Ray Baker had his problems with the Collier County School Board, to be sure.

Richard Calabrese was frustrated over what he perceived as an inability to get straight answers from Baker and top administrators.

Linda Abbott's questions about how the board goes about contracting for new construction haven't been answered to her satisfaction.

Steve Donovan was disappointed over Baker's handling of over-age students attending and playing sports at Immokalee High School.

But Baker had weathered the challenges, fended off attacks and not only survived, but even managed to collect a nice raise late last year.

In the end, it wasn't dissatisfied School Board members who proved to be Baker's undoing, but disgruntled parents.

A string of run-ins with residents upset over one aspect or another of Baker's tenure served as the catalyst that solidified the board majority's determination to get rid of him.

The Nick Sofos affair, lawsuits over the district's minimalist approach to providing services to disabled students and finally the school credit controversy all angered segments of parents who, feeling they were being stonewalled by Baker and Co., turned to board members, the media and the courts.

The grass-roots movement against Baker proved to be the final straw that motivated the board to take precipitous action on July 31, firing Baker and voting to move quickly to hire Rockford, Ill., schools superintendent Dennis Thompson.

Since he first showed up as a candidate for superintendent here in 2002, Thompson has been touted by supporters as a near-miracle worker, capable of turning a school system around.

With a Collier County School Board apparently intent on hiring him, we'd all like to believe his reputation is deserved, but as it turns out, Thompson has had his own problems with unhappy parents.

This summer, Thompson was immersed in a controversy over a diploma for a high school student murdered just two weeks before he would have graduated. The student, Bradley Berogan, was at the scene of an illicit gun deal between teenagers when a gun went off, killing him.

His mother sought to have his diploma awarded at the school graduation.

Thompson refused, noting that while the boy was passing all his classes when he died, he had not yet taken final tests and completed all course work.

The decision angered not only the boy's family, but also the victims' advocacy group Illinois Victims Organization.

"Dr. Thompson's vindictive attitude during this entire controversy has clearly shown that he is a man unwilling to compromise and without compassion for students in this district, even those that are murdered just days before graduation," said Gerri Flynn, a member of the group.

The group has a petition to force the district to award a diploma and is seeking the help of the state education commissioner and school board, Flynn said.

Was Thompson justified in insisting a diploma must stand for completion and accomplishment? Or is the case an example, as Flynn puts it, of his, "stubborn and unwilling attitude?"

In either case, it's proof that he isn't immune to the same sort of angry reaction that ultimately doomed Baker.